Coffeeholics Anonymous
by sophie1632
Summary: My version of Gilmore Girls. Same characters, different events.
1. There She Goes

**Chapter One**

There She Goes

There she goes. He watched her walk down the street towards his diner like every other morning since she had started coming here. It was like clockwork. You knew the sun was going to rise the next morning, and you knew Lorelai was going to get her cup of coffee. He was the "bearer of the coffee" as she put it, and she never left without adding her own quip about anything under the sun.

They were friends, great friends at that. Every time she left though, he got a strange feeling that she should not be leaving.

He watched her cross the street while flipping her hair out from under her purse strap. He always tried to guess what witty remark she was going to make each day, but his predictions never came close to what she would end up saying while rushing through that door.

He also thought what would happen if he told her that he could possibly have feelings for her. With each passing day, it had become increasingly harder for him to contain his feelings towards her. Should he just say something? It has been an internal battle for him, time, and time again.

Just then, a small jingling noise snapped him back to the room in front of him, signaling she just entered the diner. He didn't need the bells though; just the sweet smell of coffee and chocolate that lingered in the air when she entered a room would be signal enough for him.

"COFFEE!" a desperate cry filled the space followed by the door slamming shut causing the shades to rustle.

"I can't give you coffee. Try some tea. I have some nice Earl Gray that you might like." Luke replied with determination.

"You aren't seriously thinking I would take you up on that offer," Lorelai said, shocked by just the thought of tea instead of coffee.

"No, I guess not." With a sigh of defeat, Luke sulked over to the coffee pot and poured steaming coffee into a paper to go cup. Just her face lit up at the sight before her.

"So where's Rory?"

"Um, I think she is with Lane today. Something about catching up on some music listening." Lorelai said with a swish of her hand.

"Oh." _This is my chance. Just ask her to dinner or out to coffee. She can't refuse coffee. And if it doesn't work out, so what! You can still be friends with her._

This was it. Luke was done thinking about it. Just as he opened his mouth…

"Well I guess I better be going. You know. Places to go, people to see." Lorelai stated while getting up from the stool she was sitting on.

"Yeah, of course," was all Luke could muster up. "See you later?"

"Definitely," and with that, she was gone. Again.

The promise of her coming back though, put him in a strangely good mood. _I will tell her tonight._

"Luke?" Once again, Luke was brought out of his thoughts, but by Kirk's voice this time.

"What is it Kirk?"

"Well, I know you don't like me asking you to remake my grilled cheese sandwiches, but this has sharp cheddar cheese on it and I can't eat sharp cheddar cheese. I think I am allergic, but I get these weird cramps in my…"

That was true. He did not like making orders over again, but since the diner was pretty empty and had newfound confidence with Lorelai; he might as well throw him a bone.

"It's ok Kirk. Let me make a new one." He grabbed the plate and was off to make Kirk his new sandwich.

LGLGLGLGLGLGLGLGLG

"Cold and blustery day! COLD AND BLUSTERY DAY! What! Are they kidding! It's like a giant tornado out there!" she finished her sentence with a very dramatic whoosh of her hands, gesturing the movements of a tornado. "I mean, can't they warn you? Good people of Connecticut, today do not set up a wedding outside because as soon as you finish every single detail of a _very _detailed wedding, IT WILL BLOW AWAY!"

"Bad day?" Luke asked.

"The worst."

Lorelai looked down at her watch to see the minute hand click to exactly 6:00. "Ah, _shoot_! Rory was expecting me home with pizza fifteen minutes ago! I've got to go!"

"Well at least take some coffee to go." He handed her a cup and she brushed her hand across his while grabbing it and was out the door.

Even the slightest touch made his blood pulse through his veins.

"So much for telling her," he said under his breath.

LDLDLDLDLDLDLD

"Luke!" the familiar voice screamed.

"Sit down! I'll be right there!" he yelled back.

"No, you have to come with me. Let Caesar close tonight. Rory and I have a surprise for you!"

"I can't go. See I have this little thing called a diner and I can't leave it or else it might not be here in the morning."

"It's an emergency Luke!" Lorelai pleaded, "Please just come with me!" She hooked her arm around his and started pulling him towards the door.

"Is someone dying?"

"If I say yes, will you come with me?"

Knowing there would be no possible way of getting out of this, Luke put down the pad of paper he was taking orders on and called to Caesar, "Caesar I'm going out and won't be back till later. Close up for me, will ya?"

"Yes sir," he replied popping out of the kitchen to salute him.

"Let's go!" Lorelai yelled while grabbing Luke's arm and dragging him all the way to her house.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"Wow! You did all of this, for me?"

"Well apparently that's what it says on the banner." Lorelai pointed up to the giant banner that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE! She would have never known it was Luke's birthday if it wasn't for Caesar. He was acting all grumpy this week. You would think on your birthday week, you would be a tad bit happy. Then again, you were talking about stone cold Luke.

"Come on!" Lorelai called, leading him into the house. It was decorated with all sorts of brightly colored streamers and balloons, almost as if it were a circus. Everybody in town was there. As soon as he walked in, there was a chorus of 'happy birthdays' coming from all directions.

"Luke! Come over and sit with me and Miss Patty!" Babette screamed while scooting over to make room for him on the couch.

"Oh great." Luke mumbled.

"I remember this boy when he was just a kid. Boy, has he grown up! I remember one day…" and they started reminiscing about everybody's favorite diner man. 

LGLGLGLGLGLGLGLG

"You really didn't have to do this all for me." Luke said after the last guest left ten minutes ago.

"Of course I did! It's what friends do."

_Yeah, friends._

Oh how Luke wanted to change that fact so badly, he just could not contain his feelings any longer.

"And plus, I'll take any reason to throw a good party."

"Right." Luke said while breathing out a chuckle.

A comfortable silence had taken over the conversation and all you could hear were the quiet whispers of a cold, wintery night.

"Hey, Lorelai?" Luke turned his head to face her. Her eyes gazing out towards the trees dusted with snow and up towards the stars poking out from their indigo colored blanket.

"Hmmm?" was all she could reply with.

"Hey I was just wondering if maybe we could go see a movie and have dinner one night, you don't have to answer now, I'm just asking."

That sure snapped Lorelai out of her daze. _Did he mean like a date kind of thing? Wow, do I even want to date Luke? That would be weird, but then again, there had always been a thing between the two of us, hadn't there? That's what Sookie keeps on saying. _

"Oh…" Lorelai couldn't even put together a coherent sentence with all the thoughts rushing though her head.

"You don't have to answer right now, actually, I'll leave and let you think about this. Take your time." Luke started to get up. His legs felt like Jell-O with nervousness. _Do not take this as a no. Just because she did not say 'yes' right away does not mean she isn't going to say yes._

"Oh, Luke don't go."

"No really, it's ok. Great party, and thanks again!" _Now it is my turn to walk away,_ he thought as he hopped into his truck.

LDLDLDLDLDLDLD

It had been a week since Luke's birthday, and no word from Lorelai yet. Each day was filled with false hope and each day his confidence was starting to deteriorate. _Oh well, at least I tried._

Just then, a whoosh of brown and pink flew past the windows of the diner and headed straight for the door. Once there, she flung the door open stepped in, put her hands to her knees and bent down, huffing out breaths.

"Jeez, what happened to you?" Luke asked, cautiously walking towards Lorelai.

"I…_huff_…ran…_huff…_all the way…here…_huff huff_…to see…you" and pointed to Luke after standing up straight.

"Jeez, well, come here and take a seat." He pulled a chair out from a table and pointed for her to sit.

"Yes, sitting good."

"Let me get you some water, hold on."

"No water, coffee good."

"Ah, fine. Let me get you some coffee." Luke was halfway to the coffee machine when he heard "No wait, I only came here to ask you something."

Luke turned around and walked back towards the table she was currently sitting at.

"Is your offer still good?"

"What offer?"

"You know, movie, dinner, the date?"

"Oh, well, we don't have to do that," Luke said, preparing for a rejection." It was just a silly…"

"No!" Lorelai had cut him off, "I just wanted to say, yes."

"What?" Now Luke was utterly confused. "Yes to what?"

"Jeez did you forget to take your meds today cause your really slow today. Yes to the date!"

"Really?" Luke was in a state of shock.

"Yup." Lorelai stated with a satisfied grin plastered on her face.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Oh my god! Yes!"

"Okay." Luke said, finally believing what was going on.

"Okay."

"I'll call you with details."

"Sounds good."

"Ok, good."

"Yeah." The conversation had taken a very awkward turn. "Well, I better get going, I'll talk to you later Luke."

"Yeah, bye."

For once, Luke watched her walk out the door without that weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. For once, he got the girl. For once, he had a date with Lorelai Gilmore.


	2. Where You Lead, I Will Follow

Author's Note: I don't like putting author notes in stories, but I wanted to in the first chapter, but I forgot. Check out my profile. It will give you info on this story or any of my others (none so far but I have a million ideas). I also don't like begging for reviews, but I would really appreciate some. Just write whatever you want. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Enjoy!   
Chapter Two   
Where You Lead, I Will Follow 

"Rory! I'm home! And I've got sustenance!" Lorelai screamed in a singsong voice.

"Great! You got Al's. What country did Al grace us with tonight? I hope it's Lebanese. That was good last time, or at least the stuff that looked edible was good." Rory replied. Knowing Al, she expected to have food from a crazy country each time they ordered there.

"Nope, it's not. You'll never guess what country it is though."

"Where?" Rory asked excitedly.

"What? You're not going to even guess! Who sucked the fun out of you?"

"A little thing I like to call Chilton. Now enough chitchat. Out with it already. Come on, what country?"

"Kazakhstan!" Lorelai yelled, trying to keep her laughter to herself.

"You're kidding!"

"No! Apparently Al wanted to cash in on the big 'Borat' frenzy, and well, there ya go, Kazakhsanian…Kazakhsananite…Kazakhsanananian…" Lorelai said, struggling for the word she was looking for.

Rory jumped in before her mother started a rant, "Kazakhstani."

"Oh right, I would have gotten there eventually."

Rory rolled her eyes, "Sure. So what exactly is Kazakhstani food?"

" Do I look like the person who would know that?"

"Yes." Rory shot back.

"Alright that's enough of you, Sassy McSasserson. Let's open the bags before this gets ugly."

"Friends?" Rory asked sticking out her hand.

"Always!" Lorelai responded, shaking Rory's hand in a truce.

The girls turned their attentions back to the bags and started opening them. Upon seeing what was inside of them, looks of disgust were plastered on their faces.

"Pizza?' Rory asked.

"Don't forget extra cheesy bread!" Lorelai responded, glad that her and her daughter were on the same page, although that was nothing out of the ordinary. They got along together great. They considered themselves best friends and Lorelai couldn't be happier. Rory was everything she wanted and more.

"If I did, I wouldn't be your daughter anymore." Rory yelled back while picking up the phone. "Hey Joe. We want a pizza with everything and don't skimp on the cheesy bread this time!"

LGLGLGLGLGLGLG

Rory woke up to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table with bits of newspaper scattered around it. She was currently looking at the coupon section with a pair of scissors in her hand.

"Oh, no. No, no, no." Rory grabbed the pages Lorelai had just been looking at while shaking her head. She threw the arm holding the pages up in the air and started swinging them around. "What are these?'

"Wow, don't you look pretty this morning." Lorelai said, lacing her words with extra sweetness just to avoid the embarrassment that was sure to come.

"Hey, don't you dare change the subject. Are these what I think they are?"

"I don't know, what do _you _think they are?"

Rory looked around the table and in the corner near Lorelai and her scissors, she found exactly what she was looking for. "Aha! You were cutting coupons!"

"I was not! How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" Lorelai responded, placing her hands over her heart.

"Wow."

"Wow, what?"

"I can't believe _you,_ Lorelai Gilmore, would stoop to such lows." Rory said while shaking her head.

"Hey, its just a few measly coupons, no big deal." Lorelai commented, starting to get annoyed.

"If they are so insignificant, then why are you spending your Saturday morning cutting them out when you could be sleeping."

"Well…I…" Lorelai was at a loss of words. Man, her daughter was good.

"Tell me for real mom. Are we in trouble?'

"Well, no… I mean… well… I don't know, I guess if I could save a few dollars here and there it would help me out."

"Why couldn't you tell me?"

"Well, I don't want you to worry about another thing, you have midterms coming up and there is no need to put you under extra stress. Don't worry though, we're gonna be fine. Trust me."

"Alright, so I guess this means no Luke's?" Rory said with a hint of disappointment.

"What! Are you kidding! Jeez, you clip a few coupons and suddenly you think the whole world is ending." Lorelai said while getting up.

"Come on." Rory announced while giving her mother a little push, mentally preparing for the rant ahead of her.

"No one comes between me and my Luke's!" and with that, they were out the door.

RGRGRGRGRGRG

"Wow, my friend, you are a genus."

"Why thank you. I guess Chilton is starting to pay off."

"Chilton, uhh, maybe, but I think it's the Britney Spears music video marathon we had last night. Cheesy lyrics combined with computerized singing and oh so charming dance moves equals tons of hours of merciless mocking, thus stimulating the mind." Lorelai explained while motioning to her head for added effects.

"Wow, look who's the genius now!" Rory said.

Just then, Luke came over looking flustered from all his customers streaming in. "What can I get you two."

"Guess what, Luke!" Lorelai said declared, totally ignoring his question.

"So it's gonna be one of these days." He mumbled to himself.

Lorelai continued, "You are in the presence of two geniuses."

"Really, where?" Luke started looking around the diner, playing into her bit.

Lorelai, snapped her fingers in Luke's face, to turn his attention back to her. "Very funny, but your looking at them. This could be historic, Luke! Just think about it. Your first genius in your diner, and there are two of them. We should commemorate this day. Do you think we could have a plaque? You could hang it up in your diner and everyday before opening up, you could shine it because nobody likes an unshiny plaque."

"That's a great idea. I'll put it on the list of urgent things to do right under shoot myself." Luke said, full of sarcasm.

"Great!" Lorelai said.

Rory, who had been quietly observing the scene in front of her, finally piped in. "You wanna hear why we are geniuses?"

"Well, I actually have a lot of customers, so maybe…" Before Luke could even finish his sentence Lorelai jumped in.

"Well, you know how Rory and I are going around the world someday."

Luke knew he would be here for a while, so he shifted his weight to one side and folded his arms, "Uhuh."

"We realized during the long, laborious, task of planning, how are we ever going to go that long without Luke's coffee? I mean traveling the world! It takes a long time considering that, well, you're going around the world." Lorelai rambled.

"Sure."

"So, my darling, genius of a daughter thought that since we can't get to Luke's, Luke's would just have to come to us. We realized that you have other customers, so obviously you couldn't put the diner on wheels and have you follow us all day, which by the way, was the first plan."

"Well, obviously."

"So, we decided every five hours, you would call to see where we are, and you would ship us all the coffee we want."

"Wow, that is genius. And let's not stop at just coffee. I could send you muffins and bagels. And just for you guys, I would give you free shipping, cause I'm betting shipping will cost a fortune, for you know, being around the world and all." Luke mentioned.

"Wow great!"

"Yeah, thanks Luke!" Rory jumped in.

"Yeahhh." Luke said, holding out the last letter a little too long.

"So we should probably find a good coffee house at every stop." Lorelai said, finally coming back to reality.

"Probably." Luke agreed. He started walking back to the kitchen when suddenly turned back around, "I'm sorry, but before, did you say Britney Spears marathon?"

"Yup, I downloaded them all, I'm a Slave 4 U, …Baby One More Time, Crazy, I've got 'em all." Lorelai noted as if it was normal.

"And to cap off our evening, we watched Crossroads." Rory added. "It'll make you laugh, cry…"

"Cry in the sense that you will laugh so hard, you will cry." Lorelai nodded.

"I must say that was a great movie night." Rory finally said.

"Indubitably." Lorelai agreed and the girls just sat and laughed together.

LGRGLGRGLGRG

It was a brisk winter day and the entire town was getting ready for the big Christmas procession rehearsal, which meant Christmas was only two weeks away!

Everyone was helping either by setting up the life sized nativity scene in the park, setting up decorations in the town square, or putting the final touches on the costumes for the procession tonight.

Everyone except Lorelai. Midterms were right around the corner for her and she was having meltdowns every two hours, complaining that her head was going to explode and what not. And if you think just studying was bad enough, she was constantly playing phone tag with Luke to try to set up a date, but when they did reach one another, they could never find a night when both of them were free. She was so busy with studying and the daily drama called life, she forgot all about the town's Christmas traditions and Rory thought that was just plain sad. Rory had to do something.

GGGGGGGG

"Can someone's life go from normal to hectic, in less than one week like that?" Lane asked. She and Rory had met up and were currently sitting in the gazebo in the middle of the town square, watching the hustle and bustle of Taylor and the rest of the town getting ready for tonight.

"I guess so." Rory hated seeing her mother like this, but how to fix it?

"Well we have to do something. Christmas without your mother's crazy antics is like…well, I don't know what its like, but I don't want to find out anytime soon."

"I'm with you there. That's why I need your help to think of something. Nothing big, just something that will take her mind off of studying." Rory said, hoping her best friend could think of something.

"I'm sure we can think of something." Lane answered, full of confidence.

LGLGLGLGLG

Rory came barging through the door and went straight to the scene of the crime. "Alright. Put your highlighters down and step away from the brightly colored note cards and nobody gets hurt."

"Ha ha, very funny, but can you save your Johnny Carson act for later. I'm kinda busy right now." Lorelai said, not even able to look up while talking to her own daughter.

"Nope, not anymore, I'm kidnapping you." Rory grabbed Lorelai's arm and started pulling it up. "Come on! I promise you it will all be here when you get back."

"Promise?"

"Would I ever lie to you?" Rory asked.

"No."

"Right, now come on!" Rory pulled her mother up and dragged her to the entryway of their house so Lorelai could put on her coat, and they were out the door, heading for the town square.

RGRGRGRG

"Just a hint." Lorelai begged.

"No." Rory was determined not to be pressured by her mother to tell her where she was going. She wasn't doing much for her mother, under the circumstances, but keeping it a secret was an added bonus not only for Lorelai, but for Rory too.

"Come on! Just a piece of information, like its genre."

"Genre?"

"Yeah, you know, like its type. Restaurant, theater, store…that sort of thing." Lorelai said, explaining her word choice.

"I think you can only use genre when you're talking about books."

"Aha! So we're not going to a bookstore."

Rory just rolled her eyes at her mother. "No, I thought the perfect plan to take you away from books is to take you to a bookstore."

"Well, I don't know! You can be crazy like that! Remember that one time…" Lorelai talked the rest of the way to the town square, unfortunately for Rory, but at least it stopped the third degree on where they were going.

LGRGLGRGLGRG

"Oh my god." Lorelai had stopped dead in her tracks, pulling Rory back with her. "What is today's date?"

"Ummm, the eleventh." Rory said.

Rory looked over towards her mom. She could tell Lorelai was counting the days until Christmas 'till she realized "Oh my gosh, two weeks, the practice for the processional! I can't believe I forgot!"

"Well, that's why you have me here."

"Thank you Rory."

"You're welcome. Now come on, I set up some chairs and Luke said he would put out a thermos of coffee for us."

"Only one?"

"I told him we would need more, but he said his thermos was pretty big, but if we needed any more we could just run inside, thinking we would be to lazy to anyways, so we would only drink one."

"That Luke, always trying to make us cut down on coffee. When will he realize that we will find loopholes, like sending Kirk to fetch us some more coffee?" Lorelei told Rory.

"Yes, doesn't he know we are world renowned loophole finders?"

"Apparently not." Lorelai and Rory took their seats outside Luke's Diner and took out the thermos. Lorelai poured some into the cap and handed it to Rory. "Cheers to a happy new year!"

"Cheers." Rory returned and they clinked their cups and while they did, it snowed for the first time that year, of course.

GGGGGGG

"Alright, we are way behind people and because of that, we can't have useless people wasting our time away because you just had to know the latest scoop on who's boffing who. From now on, when I call a meeting, I expect you to be here, or else, you can pack up a sad little box with all your junk because you won't be needed here." Paris said while walking around the newsroom with her hands behind her back.

"Now if Mrs. Traiser would have let us work over break." Paris mumbled to herself, but Rory overheard.

Rory replied, "Paris, we were on Winter Break. Time to spend time with family, spread holiday cheer, that sort of thing, not be working on a school newspaper."

"Aha! See, that's where you are wrong Gilmore. This is not some silly school newspaper. I want this year's edition to be the best. I want it up there with the New York Times and the Washington Post. But we can't do that with all these insipid little breaks. The news never sleeps, and if you have a problem with that, then I suggest you leave." Paris scanned the room, and while the reporters inside looked scared to death, nobody left.

"Now, I've typed up all your assignments for next issue on these pages. Take one and get working." Paris left the pages and turned to sit at her desk.

Rory took a page and scanned down to find her name, but to her surprise, her name wasn't on it. _Paris! What is her problem now! I have done nothing to deserve this!_

Rory looked over to where Paris was sitting. She looked completely calm and extremely determined to finish whatever she was doing.

_There is no way she is going to get away with this._

Rory stood up and walked over to Paris. "Paris, I need to talk to you." Rory declared in a stern voice.

"Sorry, its going to have to wait. I am right in the middle of doing something, if you haven't noticed." Paris said. Her voice was laced with ice and not once did she look up from her computer screen that she was franticly typing on.

"Oh I noticed. You want to know what else I noticed?" Rory asked, putting as much venom in her voice as Paris did.

Paris sighed loudly, "I guess you aren't going away. What?"

"Look." Rory stuck the page in front of Paris's face.

"Again, I ask, what?"

"Did you see what's on here, or better yet, did you see what's _not_ on here?" Rory asked, getting more annoyed by the second with Paris who obviously was not caring about the situation at all.

"Look, if this is about you not getting an assignment, well, I wanted the issue coming back from winter break to be special. That takes great writing, and well, your last piece wasn't as good as the others. Kind of a snooze." By this time, Paris had gotten up and walked towards another girl and gave her a post-it.

"Paris! The writing wasn't the thing that made it a snooze! It was the topic!" Rory exploded, getting strange looks from the other girl standing next to Paris.

"Hey, remember when I gave you that piece on the new parking lot pavement? Total snooze, but you made it interesting, but your last piece, I just didn't think it was good." Paris said circling the room again and ending back at her desk.

"Look, I'm sorry I am not a good boring topic writer, but you have to give me a chance. Don't let your personal feelings get tied up with work. What would Woodward say?" Rory said trying not to lunge forwards and strangle her.

"Don't you dare accuse me of mixing personal feelings with work. I gave the deserving students an article. Don't think I'm going to give you special treatment just because we used to be friends. Now if you don't mind, I really have to get to work."

With that, Rory stormed out of the newsroom and didn't stop until she reached the bus stop.

LGLGLGLGLG

"If I strappadoed Paris, do you think would anyone miss her?" Rory fumed to her mother.

"Bad first day back at school?" Lorelai asked, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn to meet her daughter on the couch.

"Oh no. The day was fine, but as soon as I enter the newsroom, it is like her life mission to make it impossible for me to even breathe in there!"

"Aww, honey. I'm sure it's not that bad." Lorelai added while rubbing Rory's arm in comfort.

"She didn't even give me a story."

"Well, I know this is a little unconventional, but unconventional is part of my name, right in between insane and unique." Lorelai started to say.

"Wow, those are quite the rare genes." Rory interrupted.

"That's what you get for being a Gilmore. Anyways, as I was saying, let's have a movie night." Lorelai suggested excitedly. She loved movie nights, almost as much as Emilio Estevez in 1984.

"But it's a school night, and you have a big meeting tomorrow." Rory said with a hint of disappointment. She loved movie nights as much as her mother, but the way their movie nights usually ended, she would never be able to get to school.

"So?" Lorelai replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "We just won't stay up as late."

"I'll call Luke's!" Rory said with excitement exuding all around her.

"I'll pick out some movies! How about a musical marathon! West Side Story, Annie, and Bye Bye Birdie. A mix of love, orphans, and Ed Sullivan."

"Sounds great. And when Riff is stabbed, I'll just pretend its Paris!" Rory yelled from the kitchen.

"Ah! Perfect." Lorelai yelled back, bent over searching through tapes in a big brown box.

"Ok, Luke said to be down at the diner in a couple of minutes and he'll have our stuff ready, so let's go!" Rory ran out of the kitchen and into the entryway to get her coat. Lorelai was right behind her as they both shot out of the door into the cold winter night.

RGRGRGRG

Rory got off the bus and started to walk through town to get back home. She would have to order another pizza tonight because her mother had to go to Hartford for a seminar for hotel/inn managers. She had been gone lately, whether it was business at the inn or special classes, and Rory was starting to get lonely. And cold, she pulled her coat tighter around her body for more warmth.

Lorelai sat in the back of an auditorium, barely listening to the man currently droning on about maids and how to hire them. She knew all of this, but every year the Independence sent her here. It was just another stupid technicality. Lorelai had already used all of her paper trying to draw and make cootie catchers. She was bored out of her mind.

Rory didn't want to spend the night alone again, plus she was getting tired of eating Indian food without her mother's crazy reactions towards the smells. That's when she thought of the only thing left to do. As she rounded the corner of Doose's Market, she flipped out her cell phone and punched in the numbers so familiar to her.

Lorelai was trying to count the number times the speaker said "umm" while wiggling her pen to make it look like it was made out of rubber, when a distinct vibrating came from the pocket of her jacket and broke her out of her reverie.

She quietly slipped out of her chair and into the hallway. "Hello?"

"Mom?"

"Rory?"

"Can you come home? It's kinda creepy by myself and I don't know. I guess I kinda miss you." Rory said starting to feel stupid for calling.

"You _kinda_ miss me? Hmm, I'm sensing this call was because you wanted me to come home. But I only come home to people who admit that they _really _miss me. Oh, well, I guess I will just have to go back to my _really_ boring seminar, where as if I were to leave, hmm, " Lorelai looked down at her watch to see how long she had been there. _An hour! I've only been here an hour! It feels like an eternity! But, I've been here long enough._ Lorelai directed her attention back too the person on the line."…if I were to leave well, now, I could be home in about an hour or so."

"You could really do that?" Rory asked, excited to see her mother tonight.

"I could, but only to people _really_ miss me." Lorelai wanted to tease Rory a little before starting her venture back home.

Rory sighed with defeat, "Fine. I _really _miss you."

"What was that? This phone connection is really bad." Lorelai said, barely containing her laughter.

"I said, I **_really_** miss you and I want you to come home." Rory announced feeling slightly humiliated.

"Wait, one more time?"

"Mom! Come on!"

"Alright, alright." Lorelai said giggling like a two year old.

"Jeez, the things I put up with." Rory stated, shaking her head.

LGRGLGRG

Rory pulled up to their house to notice Lorelai fiddling with something near the windows. She cut off the ignition and stepped out of the car. "What'ch ya doing?" Rory yelled to her mother who was now stooped over the windowsill.

"Tada!" Lorelai backed away from where she was working to reveal the new flowerboxes hanging from the windows.

"Wow! Did you actually garden?" Rory said shocked by even the thought of her mother working with dirt.

"No of course not! Do you think I'm crazy! I just bought some fake flowers and put them in the box. Pretty, don't ya think?" Lorelai stated, obviously proud of her work.

"Yeah. It adds a certain hominess to the house. Martha Stewart would be proud." Rory answered.

Both Rory and Lorelai stepped back from the porch to admire their home. It wasn't a big mansion or anything like that. What made it special was the fact that it looked lived in by people that loved life and all the house's little quirks.

"I always wanted a real home, one with flowers on the windowsills and a wrap around porch with squeaky stairs and a slightly unstable handrail." Lorelai commented in a dreamy voice.

"And look, now you have it." Rory said, taking in the sight of their house, really appreciating it and all the hard work Lorelai did to get it.

"Yeah, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to share it with." And with that, Lorelai draped her arm around Rory's shoulder and led her inside. "Come on, I heard they are playing The Adventures of Huck Finn on T.V. tonight, and you know how much I like to see baby Frodo." Lorelai said, regaining her usual perkiness.

"Come on, let's get you inside." Rory laughed.

GGGGGGG

"Mom! Mom, quick! Come here!" Rory had just gotten home from school and was in the living room, Lorelai, who took the day off, came rushing into the room thinking Rory was hurt.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Lorelai asked, slightly out of breath from running all the way downstairs.

"Look." Rory held a big white envelope in front of Lorelai's face. It was thick and had fancy script on the front with an emblem of some sort on it.

"I'm looking, but unless it is one of those things that you wait for it and then something pops out, I don't see what's so special about this envelope."

"You know when I was applying to all those private high schools and lots of them said they were too full, but they would contact me it that changed?" Rory asked while smiling. She just couldn't contain her excitement.

"Oh my God! Which one is it?" Lorelei realized what the envelope was and was doing everything short of jumping up and down.

"The one from New York."

"Well… open it!" Lorelai couldn't wait any longer.

"Alright already!" Rory carefully ripped the top seal off. Lorelai had moved around the table so she was standing directly behind Rory, peaking over her shoulders to get a good view. Rory pulled out all of the papers and started to read the first page.

"So! What does it say?" Lorelai asked impatiently.

"Shhh!" Rory's eyes kept scanning the letter, as each second ticked by; the wider Rory's smile grew.

"Come on! Tell me!" Lorelai was whining like a toddler now.

Rory looked up, grinning from ear to ear. She turned to face her mother, who was also grinning like a fool.

"I got in!" Rory and Lorelai squealed, put their arms around each other, and started to jump up and down. "I could be going to a school more prestigious than Chilton!" Rory said in awe.

"Well they certainly made a good choice in picking you!" Lorelai was elated for her daughter. Now Rory _will_ have the life she never had. Something was troubling her though. They would have to live in New York City. Of course Lorelai would do anything for Rory, but New York City? _Oh, well, we will find a way. We have to._

LGLGLGLGLGLG

That night, Lorelai couldn't get to sleep at all. She kept wondering what she was going to do and what she would be leaving behind. _Should we even go to New York? Ahh, I wish the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come would show up right now to tell me how this is all going to turn out. That would make things much easier. I guess as long as Rory and I are together it will be ok._ And with the last of her thoughts dwindling down, she finally fell into a peaceful sleep.


	3. Where The Colors Don't Go

**Chapter Three**

Where The Colors Don't Go

Lorelai lay awake in her bed again for the fourth time this week. Lately all she had been doing was worrying. It was like someone had switched her brain with someone else's and now she couldn't think straight. She thought about normal things like the inn and the cobwebs of problems piling on there, but what was worrying her more was if they were going to move, and hey, what about Luke? He was the one who wanted the date, so shouldn't he be trying to make more of an effort to make it happen. But then again, Luke wasn't really the take-charge kind of guy. And Lorelai wasn't doing much better to make this fantasy date actually come true.

Lorelai looked around her bedroom. It was a weird place. It was where she dreamt every night, but it was also the only place where she kept the things that left her wondering every night, her fears.

Lorelai had perfected her mask of fearlessness over the years. No longer does she let herself look vulnerable and scared in front of Rory, or anyone else. But in her room, she was all alone. There was nobody there to make her put on a brave face, so her mind started to wander out of her comfort zone, and that scared Lorelai. That's why she never decorated her room. That's why the walls were painted white and bare, and the sheets were only a shade off the one on the walls. That's why when you looked around, there was barely any color.

LGLGLGLGLGLGLG

"Ahh, there you are. We are missing two bathrobes in Room 8, I think the guests took them while they were checking out, and they didn't even leave a tip! How do they think people are supposed to live when they don't even give a tip?" Michel yammered in Lorelai's ear.

"I don't know Michel. Anything else?" Lorelai asked in a distressed tone while walking around the inn with a note pad in her hand, writing down things that needed to be done today. Michel continued to give her the news on how the inn was doing, but Lorelai was only half listening to what he was saying, just an occasional nod to make it look like she was.

Being manager of the inn was like an endless chase of things to do before a deadline and Lorelai was about to hold up a white flag and leave. With all of the stress and lack of sleep, she needed to get out. She needed a break. Lorelai stopped walking when the reached the front desk and turned to Michel. "Well, it looks like everything's under control and you have a good handle on things. I have to go now, so I'll see you later this afternoon." Lorelai turned and headed for the door.

"But Lorelai! You can't just leave! Wait!" Michel yelled after her in a plea for help.

"Bye Michel!" was all Lorelai said before walking out the door.

MGMGMGMGMG

Lorelai was clutching a shopping bag in her right hand, while looking in the windows of the stores around Stars Hollow. She had been out shopping for two hours and was starting to get hungry. She passed Luke's. _Mmm, one of Luke's burgers sound really good right now. But if I go in, I'll have to talk about the date with him. Maybe I'll just grab a Weston's coffee and eat something at home. _

Lorelai was just about to pass Luke's when she started second guessing herself. _Lorelai Victoria Gilmore! Look at you! Running away from Luke just because you don't want to talk about some silly date. Come on! This is not the person I wanted you to become! Go in there! Who cares if he mentions it!_ Lorelai was having one of those moments where two mini Lorelai's appear and start arguing on her shoulder on what to do.

After a couple of minutes of walking back and forth in front of Luke's, she finally walked up the familiar step and twisted the doorknob, welcomed by the ringing bells. She suddenly heard Luke's voice yell from the back of the kitchen to sit wherever she wanted and that he would be there in a second. Lorelai sat down and immediately started drumming her fingers on the table. She picked up a menu and started to read it, but only after a few seconds, put it down. A few more minutes of staring into space and she was greeted by Luke.

GGGGGGGGG

"Caesar! What did I tell you to do when talking to Taylor?" Luke yelled at Caesar.

"Umm, avoid talking to him at all, and when that's not possible, never ever agree to anything he says?" Caesar said meekly.

"Right, now I have customers to serve, but by the time I get back, you better have fixed this." With that, Luke stormed out of the kitchen to see that Lorelai was sitting at a table facing the window. "Lorelai" he quietly breathed out her name. He was in shock. _She's here to cancel our non-existent date. God I never should have waited so long to find a day for their date._ Luke was freaking out._ What am I going to say? Ahh, I can't have her seeing me like this. I just have to calmly walk over and pretend like nothing is happening. Alright, I can do this._ Luke walked over to Lorelai. "Lorelai, hey, what can I get you?"

LGLGLGLGLGLG

"Oh, hi Luke." Lorelai was somewhat startled when Luke just came up to her. She looked up to realize that he looked completely cool and calm. _Look at me! Getting nervous about talking to one of my friends. This is silly._

"I think I'll take a burger." Lorelai said, trying to stay in check.

"Anything else?" Luke asked while writing down her order.

"Nope."

"Alright, I'll be right back with that." Luke turned and started walking back when he heard her voice call back to him.

"And coffee. I forgot the coffee." Lorelai secretly kicked herself for that move. _So much for acting cool. I forgot to ask for coffee. Now he definitely will know something's up._

Luke chuckled. "Right, coffee." And went back to the kitchen.

GGGGGGGGGG

Luke walked back over to her table to hand her her check. _Just ask her out tonight. You already know she wants to go out with you. She already said yes. So, what's your big deal!_ This was it. Luke was going to ask her out for tonight and he wasn't taking no for an answer. He had been planning for what seemed like forever. Reading books and getting advice on dating, and although he thought all the people writing these books were morons, he wanted to make their first date right.

"So… here's your check." He set it down in front of Lorelai.

"Oh, thanks."

There was a long and very uncomfortable pause between the two.

_Am I just supposed to forget that Luke asked me out? Why can't he just say 'hey, I was wondering if you were free tonight'? He knows I would say yes, come on Luke! Ask me!_

As if on cue, Luke finally broke the ice. "So, I was just wondering if you were free tonight."

"Oh, umm…" This had been what she was waiting for, yet how come she was so tongue-tied? When she was finally able to put a coherent sentence together she agreed, and they settled on Luke picking her up at seven.

LGLGLGLGLGLG

"Ok that restaurant was bad. I'm sorry but come on! Like the waiters with the funny looking suits."

"Or the butter that was molded into geese." Luke said laughing along with Lorelai at how cheesy the restaurant had been.

"Yeah, I never want any of my food to look like a goose, unless it is goose, but then I wouldn't be eating it." Lorelai giggled some more. They were walking down a street when they saw brightly colored tents and music blaring from speakers that resembled music you would hear at a carnival.

"Oh my god, there's a carnival! Let's go!" Lorelai tugged on Luke's arm and directed him towards the entrance. "Ok I want cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream…" Lorelai said, imitating a child.

"But you just had dinner!" Luke said.

"Ok my beef thing in a cream sauce whatever did not curb my appetite."

"Alright. What do you want first?" Luke asked in a defeated tone.

GGGGGGGGGG

After walking around for a while Lorelai spotted a photo booth.

"Ooh! Luke, look!" Lorelai pointed to the booth and started dragging him towards it.

"Oh come on! You don't expect me to get in there!" Luke started to protest but was stopped by Lorelai's strong tug to pull him inside.

"It will be fun. I promise. Now smile pretty!" Lorelai said right before the camera started snapping pictures.

LGLGLGLGLGLG

Luke and Lorelai stumbled out of the booth and Lorelai immediately grabbed the photos. She looked at the first one and started giggling.

Luke walked over to see what she was laughing at and immediately realized what was so funny. "Oh now that's not fair! I wasn't ready."

Lorelai couldn't stop laughing, now she was bent over. Just the sight of Lorelai laughing so hard made Luke start laughing too.

"I…you…it…face…" Lorelai was laughing so hard, she couldn't even form a sentence.

"I told you! I wasn't ready!" Luke tried to defend whatever pride he had left.

"That's for sure. Here," Lorelai ripped the first picture off, "you can keep it. I, however, want the rest."

"Come on, let's get out of here." Luke said and drove Lorelai back home.

GGGGGGGGGG

Lorelai was back in her room and in her hand held the pictures taken earlier that evening. She set them on her bedside table and crawled into bed. She took one last look at the pictures and fell asleep immediately. Now, at least her room had some color.


	4. Heartland

Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay! But here it is, Chapter Four. And as always, I would love to hear your comments (it's what keeps me motivated)!

**Chapter Four**

Heartland

Rory walked into the house after a long day of cleaning out her locker, and telling her teachers that she was transferring out of Chilton. Rory was worn out by carrying her big box of books. She looked around to see her house to see that it was not normal. It was covered in streamers and posters of her favorite actors and smart people, as Lorelai would put it. To put it in simpler words; the house screamed Rory.

She was confused. Was today somebody's birthday? Who were they throwing a party for? Just then, she heard There She Goes playing and her mother running to meet her.

"RORY!" Lorelai ran and enveloped her in a hug.

"I'm sorry, but I'm kinda out of the loop. What's going on? And who stole my mother and replaced her with a melodramatic woman?" Rory said still confused by her mother's actions.

"Aww, there's that charm I love and am going to miss!" Lorelai again enveloped Rory in a hug.

"Ok, there is giving a hug, and then there is squishing my insides out, and you are crossing that line." Rory said in a stressed tone.

"Oh, sorry." Lorelai backed away.

Ever since Lorelai and Rory decided that Rory would move to New York and stay in one of the dorms at the high school, Lorelai was becoming more and more sentimental. With today being Rory's last day at Chilton, and the first day of their last weekend together, the emotional side of Lorelai was becoming increasingly apparent.

"So back to my original question." Rory laughed at the sight around her. "What is all this?"

"It's your Going Away To New York And Leaving Your Wonderful Mother So You Can Become A Snob And Get Some Fancy Education Bash!" Lorelai said officially christening the party with a name.

"Ohhh," Rory said, finally getting what this was all about, "well then, let's get this party started!" Rory dropped her backpack on the floor and followed her mother, who was already skipping, into the living room.

"Allllright! Now we have a very big weekend ahead of us. Which is why I have created this very handy dandy schedule." Lorelai said, scooping up a piece of paper, which was assumed to be, _the schedule_.

"But I thought you hated schedules. What happened to 'silly rabbit, schedules are for geeks."

"Ahh, well you like schedules and this is your weekend, so, voila! A schedule."

"Hmm, I'm starting to like this idea of _my weekend_." Rory said, pondering all of the things she could get her mother to do just because of this excuse.

"Hey, hey!" Lorelai said, snapping her fingers in front of Rory's face to focus her attention back to what she was about to say. "Let's get back to the schedule, alright?"

With Rory now paying full attention, "Alright, let's here this schedule of yours."

"Ok, today we hit the mall and get you some cute outfits for your fancy school. You want to make a good impression." Lorelai read off her list.

"Mom, you realize that I will be wearing a uniform, right."

"Of course I knew that!" Lorelai lied, unconvincingly, with a wave of her hand.

But Rory didn't buy it, "Uh huh."

"Anyways, as I was saying, we'll go shopping and then hit the movies."

"Sounds good." Rory nodded.

"Then Saturday is the day of all days. One gigantic Movie Night. Only it will be all day. And yes, you can choose the movies we watch."

"Yes!"

"And then finally, Sunday."

"Ah, yes. Sunday." The word Sunday was filled with dread because they knew that was the day that would separate the two until summer. It would be the longest they had ever been without one another. They avoided the subject as much as possible for that reason. However, they both knew the day was around the corner and they had to talk about it sometime, but not today. Today was all fun and nothing else. So, with that lingering thought in both of their minds, Lorelai jumped off the couch and yelled, "Come on Rory! Get your purse and let's motor! We can't waste anytime this weekend!"

"Coming Mom!" And the house became quiet again once the two shut the door behind them.

RGRGRGRG

"Ok, this has got to be the worst movie ever to come out in the '80s." Rory laughed while watching Maximum Overdrive as their finale to their last movie night in awhile. They were curled up on the couch with a sea of junk food surrounding them.

"Yeah, but you've got to admit, Emilio Estevez sure looked good!" Lorelai commented while sipping on the mug of coffee Luke sent over.

"I will never understand your strange fascination with him." Rory said while shaking her head and then reached over for a piece of chocolate. "You know what bugs me the most about this movie?" Rory asked.

"What?" Knowing there could be many things wrong with this movie, Lorelai wanted to know which part irked her daughter the most.

"Ok, why don't the trucks just run over the diner at the beginning of the movie instead of waiting like ninety minutes into the thing!"

Lorelai started laughing, "I know! And the music is all serious and scary and well, just plain awful!"

By this point Rory was laughing too. "Yeah! And how could a "radiation storm" turn machines into bad-tempered monsters out to attack their makers!"

At that, Lorelai and Rory started laughing more. Then Lorelai yelled "Ahh! Watch out for the homicidal machines! They're out to get us! Ahh!" And laughed and laughed until tears came rolling down their cheeks their sides hurt.

Once they calmed down, Lorelai nudged her daughter and said, "Nothing like a good comedy to end our night."

Rory turned her head to face her mother's, "You bet."

LGLGLGLG

Rory looked around what was now her new bedroom. Her mother had driven her down to her new school and helped her unpack. She had three other roommates, but they had yet to show their faces. Rory shared a room with one of them, so the room had all the basics. Her mother insisted on customizing her side of the room and helped her shop the weekend before. But now she was gone and Rory was homesick already.

She went over to the CD player that she brought from home and pulled out the Macy Gray that her and her mother both loved and put on I Try. She started singing along with the song and immediately felt like home.

Tomorrow would be her first day of classes, she thought. Something about that made her partially terrified, but also kind of excited. This would be the beginning of her ticket to Harvard. Nothing was going to stop her now.

RGLGRGLG

Rory walked into her first class and immediately took a seat in the middle of the classroom. She had thought long and hard about where to sit the first day of her first class the night before. _The front? No_, she thought. She didn't want to seem overzealous, like a teacher's pet. _The back? No._ She still wanted to learn _something_. That left the middle and after thinking about it for a few more minutes, she decided it was her best choice.

She turned her head to the door and watched the other students stream into the classroom. As the students came in, she noticed glances in her direction and whispers all around her. She grew increasingly nervous until she couldn't take it anymore. She sang I Try inside her head to try to calm herself and bring back good memories of her mother and all the words of encouragement she told Rory. It helped. Rory decided she didn't care what the kids were saying about her. She was here to get an education and that was it.

She took another look around the room. She could immediately tell who were the "good" kids and who, well, weren't. This was going to be a long day, she thought to herself as the teacher started to settle the kids down for class.

GGGGGGGGG

Rory opened her bedroom door and immediately flopped face first onto her bed. It _had_ been a long day and all she could think about doing was sleeping.

"Tough first day, huh."

Rory was startled when she heard another voice in the room. She jumped up to realize that it was her long lost roommate.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Still coming out of her shock, she stood there awkwardly and said, "Oh, it's ok."

The girl stuck out her hand, "My name's Natalie."

"Rory, well technically Lorelai, but everybody calls me Rory." The girls shook hands.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Rory."

"Yeah, you too."

There was an awkward pause, until Natalie finally broke it. "So, how was your first day here?"

"It was, well, -"

"Overwhelming?" Natalie supplied.

Rory smiled. "Yes, very."

"I bet. I remember my first day here. I was so nervous, I almost ran into a pole!" They both laughed at this.

"Well I have yet to do that. But as far as this day has been going, I think that's next on the list." They laughed again.

"So, can I ask you a question, Natalie?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Is everyone so…intense here?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that there are quite a few that work until the daylight's gone. Even the teachers."

"Wow." Rory thought she was an overachiever, but now, hearing that, her confidence was shaken. Could she really do this? Natalie's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, I was thinking that we should really get to know each other better, since we will have to spend the rest of the year together, but I know how tough the first week is, so maybe we could go out this weekend to celebrate you surviving your first week here."

"If I even survive it." Rory said starting to doubt if this was the right decision to come here.

"Oh trust me, you will. I can tell you'll be fine. Now how about the weekend, you in?"

Rory smiled, "Yeah, I'm in."

"Good." Natalie returned the smile. "Now I'll let you get back to sleeping, or whatever you were about to do."

"Thanks."

Natalie left the room and Rory turned off the light. Maybe Natalie was right. Maybe she could do this.

RGRGRGRG

It was Friday night and Rory was getting ready to go out with Natalie. Natalie said she knew of a great little café that served the best coffee, and after hearing about Rory's fetish with coffee, she knew it was the perfect place to go. Plus, it had the right atmosphere, casual and comfortable, somewhere to catch up with old friends or in this case get to know new ones.

They walked off campus and down a few blocks to the café and sat at a table outside. They had ordered and started to talk about their families, friends, classes, favorite foods, music, colors, movies among other things.

Once they had finished their dinner, Natalie was anxious to see what Rory thought of the coffee, so they ordered two large coffees and a slice of chocolate cake. Rory was hesitant, saying nothing could be as good as Luke's, but after one sip, she was sold. It wasn't as good as Luke's, but under the circumstances, it was pretty damn close. So close, that they ordered a second cup to go as they headed back towards campus.

One thing they learned about each other was that they were both movie buffs, which Rory was grateful of. They decided to cap off their evening by watching a movie, or in this case, the first season of The Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire.

"I love this show. I don't know why, but something about seeing Will Smith in florescent colored clothing just really excites me." Natalie commented.

"Yeah, and you can't help but love that cheesy grin that Carlton always wears." Rory added and the two of them tried imitating it, but ended up giggling at each other's silliness.

Once they had both calmed back down, Natalie asked, "You know what I miss most about home?"

"What?"

"Well, first of all, being able to sing in the shower without worrying that someone will hear you." Rory laughed. "But more importantly, hearing the rain on our house's roof on a summer night. I know that sounds weird, but I just really like hearing that continual tapping that lulls you to sleep."

"Where is your hometown?" Rory asked, realizing after all the time they had spent getting to know each other, she never asked where Natalie was from.

"A small neighborhood in Ohio, kind of near Akron."

"Wow, that's pretty far away."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Natalie said with a sad smile.

"What's it like?" Rory asked.

"Hmm, well it's a small, close-knit community. It's almost like one of those neighborhoods that you would see on a T.V. show or movie. It's the perfect little town."

Rory smiled. It sounded just like Stars Hollow.

"So what about your hometown?" Natalie asked.

"Well.." and the two girls sat and talked about their hometowns and all of their quirks for the rest of the night.


	5. I Try

Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

I Try

"Ahah! Soil!" Lane yelled and threw up her hands.

"What! Where?" Rory yelled back not believing her friend had scored once again in Boggle.

"Right there!" Lane pointed. "See S-O-I-L, soil! That is another point for me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Rory muttered and put yet another tally mark under Lane's side of the score sheet.

"You think that at that fancy school of yours, they would teach you some fancy words."

"Yeah, well too bad I'm taking Boggle 101 next year." Rory dryly remarked.

"So…" Lane said, currently forgetting the game.

"So… what's new?" Rory said.

"Well… you remember Henry?" Lane said and immediately a large, goofy grin grew on her face.

"Korean doctor Henry from Chilton?" Rory asked, just to make sure they were talking about the same guy.

"Yeah, him."

"Well, what about him?" Rory said, intrigued.

"He called."

"What! What did he say, and what did you say?" Rory said, excited for her friend.

"Well, I didn't say anything because he left a message."

"So… what did he say?"

"Do you want me to give you exact quotes or just paraphrase?"

"You know the exact quotes?" Rory asked incredulously. "How many times did you listen to the thing?

"Only ten times." Lane responded innocently.

Rory burst out laughing, but stopped when she saw Lane glare at her. "I'm sorry." Rory said, still fighting the urge to laugh. "Continue, please."

Lane gave Rory one final glare then started her tale. "So he said that he had a great time at the party and that I should call back so we could find a time to meet again."

Rory squealed. "Ah, Lane that's great! Are you excited?"

"Yeah," Lane nodded her head enthusiastically, "…but, I can't go." Lane admitted sadly.

"What! Why not!"

"Uhh, hello Rory. Have you met my mother? If she finds out that I went out on a date with a boy that was not pre-approved by her, she would be so angry with me! I can just see her now, 'Lane Kim! How dare you go out on a date with a boy! Do you not have any respect towards me?' No Rory, I can't go."

"Well, it's not like my life is any better." Rory sympathized.

"Yeah, how is that school of yours?" Lane asked curiously.

"Hmm, where to start? Well first, half the students don't even deserve to be there. They just got in because daddy is a big shot and he wouldn't dare send them to a public school. So they all view school, and life, and studying, as one big game or something. I don't even know. And everything is so different there. I am constantly trying to adapt to all the changes that I have gone through in the last couple of months. Oh, and then there is the constant fear of just completely failing, which I am always reminded of. I just want to know when all of that leaves and my life can return back to normal."

"I can't say that I have the answer." Lane shrugged. "I just consider myself lucky that you could find time to fit me into your busy schedule."

"I know! I hate how we are never together anymore." Rory said, realizing a long time ago that it was one of the many disadvantages of living in New York City.

Lane looked down at her watch. "Hey, I better get going. It's tofu night at the Kim's and you know how my mom is."

The two girls reluctantly got up from their positions on the couch and moved slowly towards the door. "So you'll stop by and say goodbye before you leave, right?" Lane asked.

"Of course." Rory reassured Lane. They hugged and before Rory knew it, Lane was out the door, speeding towards her home so she wouldn't be late for dinner.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Rory fished through her purse to find her keys. When she did, she opened the door and was greeted by Abbey who had just popped out of their room.

"Hey." Abbey said as she sat down on her bed while Rory plopped down on hers.

"Hey," was all Rory replied with.

"Something wrong?"

"Nah, just thinking about home."

"It's hard coming back here after visiting home." Abbey said.

"Tell me about it." There was a comfortable silence between the two when Rory yawned.

"You look tired." Abbey observed.

"I guess I am."

"Traveling can do that to you."

"Yeah, so if you don't mind, I'm going to got to sleep now so I can be fully rested for my classes tomorrow." Rory said, laying down on her bed and kicking off her shoes.

"Okay, goodnight." Abbey said.

And Rory fell asleep before she had the chance to change into her pajamas.

That night, Rory fell into a fitful sleep. Memories swarmed her head. She was constantly reminded of all of the good times Lane and her had. She wasn't dreaming, but she wasn't having a nightmare either. No, it was her wishing; wishing that she could still be with her friends from Stars Hollow.

RGRGRGRGRGRGRG

"Rory? Rory, wake up! Your first class starts in thirty minutes. Rory wake up!" Abbey shook Rory in attempt to wake her up. She was worried about Rory. When she came back last night, she didn't look herself. And now, sleeping through her alarm clock, not even making a try to get up, this was not the girl Abbey knew.

Abbey gave it one last shot. "Rory, please wake up!" Abbey gave her one last shake. This time Rory turned to her side and moaned, finally showing signs that she was alive. "Good god Rory. Get up! You're going to be late!"

"What?" Rory said, still gathering her bearings from her long restless sleep. Rory put her hand on her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Rory, look at me." Abbey reached for Rory's hand.

Rory reluctantly opened her eye to meet the glaring sun, burning her eyes, which caused her to moan. "What time is it?"

Abbey looked down at her watch, "seven ten."

Hearing this, Rory shot up out of her bed, while screaming, "what!" She sprinted to the bathroom and got ready for her first class as quick as humanly possible.

Abbey waited for Rory, and twenty minutes later, Rory appeared out of their room. Rory was all ready to go, but something still seemed missing. Abbey noticed something was wrong with Rory.

"Anything up, Rory?" Abbey asked as they walked out to their first classes.

Rory glanced over at her, then shrugged, "no, why?"

Abbey shrugged also. She was not satisfied with Rory's answer, but if she didn't tell her right away, there had ought to be an explanation as to why, and Abbey didn't want to press her for details. Well, at least not right away. "Just wondering, that's all." She replied nonchalant. "Okay, so.., I'm gonna turn now," Abbey said while pointing to the direction of her class, "cause that's where my class is… unless you wanted to tell me anything?"

Rory crinkled her eyebrows, finding her friend's behavior a tad strange. "Uh, no. Not that I can recall."

"Oh, okay then." Abbey reluctantly turned towards her class.

Once she was gone, Rory let out a deep sigh.

She didn't realize how hard it was to keep her cool.

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

Rory walked out of her last class and her phone immediately started ringing deep inside her backpack. Rory mumbled, "oh, shoot," and stopped on the side of the path to set her backpack down and reached to get her phone. "Hello?" She answered.

"Rory!"

"Hey Lane!"

"I miss you already! And I just saw you this weekend! How pathetic is that!" Lane squealed into the phone.

"Hey, I'm right there with you. All I can think about is you and Stars Hollow and how much I love it and miss everyone." Rory confessed

"Wow, that is quite a bold statement Ms. Gilmore! Most kids can't wait to get away from all the slightly insane people we like to call our townsfolk." Lane said.

"Yes, well I am quite the daredevil these days." Rory responded.

"Wow! I had no idea!" Lane laughed. "So anyways, I have some news."

"Ooh! Is it juicy? I'm dying to hear about something other than Martin Luther's 95 Theses," Rory said.

"Well who wouldn't. Anyways, you know that the firelight festival is this Saturday, right?"

"Ooh the Firelight Festival! I can't believe I'm missing that! I bet it'll take at least an hour before they light the bonfire this year, although last year they were pretty quick," exclaimed Rory.

"Yeah, but then Taylor and Kirk got in a fistfight," Lane said.

"A wonderful addition. It was very entertaining," Rory added.

"Well anyways, it turns out that Henry will be there as well. He wants to see the madness for himself."

"That's great Lane."

"Yeah, I figure that I'll be able to sneak away while my mother scolds Miss Patty about serving her Founder's Party Punch. We won't have a lot of time, but we might be able to grab some star-shaped hot dogs," Lane explained.

"Ahh, sounds like true love!"

"Yeah! Well I have to go. My mom wants me to help her pack up some furniture."

"Okay," said Rory, disappointed.

"Bye Rory."

Rory wanted to say bye back, but the word did not want to come out. After a few seconds of struggling, it finally spilled out of her. "Bye Lane."

Rory started to head back when she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. From behind she heard, "Smooth, Gilmore!" then saw Abbey running up next to her, laughing all the way.

"Well I'm glad someone thinks that my public humiliation is entertaining," Rory responded dryly.

"That's what I'm here for," said Abbey. "So, do you wanna tell me who you were talking to?"

"Nope, but I do want to grab some food. You hungry?"

"Yeah, let's go."

RGLKRGLKRGLKRGLK

"I enjoyed reading some of your papers, but most greatly disappointed me," said Rory's English teacher, as he handed out their latest papers on Tolstoy.

Rory anxiously waited to get her paper back. She was unsure of how well she did this time. Most of the time, she was confident in her work, but she knew that this assignment was particularly difficult. Rory had a hard time focusing on her work for the past week. She was constantly distracted by other thoughts and daydreams about anything other than Tolstoy. After a few minutes, her teacher weaved his way through rows of desks to Rory's. As she took the paper, she immediately noticed a big red D with a circle around it. Rory was disappointed, but not necessarily surprised. She just regretted not working as hard as she usually does.

After class, Rory's friend, Bailey met up with her. Rory though she was one of the few normal people at school, along with Abbey. "So how'd you do?" she asked, referring to their English papers.

"Not good," Rory responded, showing Bailey her paper.

"Well, what'd he say?"

"That my paper's thoughts and ideas were 'restricted' and the creativity was 'limited.'"

"That doesn't sound like you at all," said Bailey.

"Yeah, I've just been stuck for awhile," said Rory. "I think I'm still not used to this whole living far away from home thing yet."

"Trust me, everyone goes through that stage. It's not easy when the people you love are far away and you're stuck here. Just remember, it won't always be like this, and you'll find reasons to love it here, like me, for example," explained Bailey.

"Hmm, someone thinks highly of themselves," said Rory.

"What can I say?" Bailey said while she shrugged her shoulders. "Hey listen, I've got to go to history now, but I'll call you later?"

"Okay!"

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

The week, Rory got a call from Lane saying her mom finally allowed her to come to New York to visit her this weekend. Rory couldn't wait to show her around. By history class, Rory's last class of the day, on Friday, she couldn't wait to get out knowing Lane would be there soon. Every five minutes she would look at the clock, only to watch the minute hand slowly click by, until her final class was done.

Rory walked out to the main entrance of the school campus where she told Lane to meet her, and when she finally saw her standing near the open gates she ran up and gave her a big hug. "I'm so glad you're here!" she squealed.

"Me too!' Lane said, laughing.

"There are so many things I want to show you!"

"There are so many things I want to tell you!" Lane replied.

"Okay, but first let me show you my dorm and then we'll grab some dinner."

"Sounds great!" Lane said as the both started to walk away, chatting about the latest Stars Hollow gossip and Lane's night at the Firelight Festival.

RGRGRGRGRGRGRG

Before the girls knew it, the weekend was over and Lane had to go back home. "Are you going to be alright in this big scary school?" Lane asked while waiting for her mother to pick her up.

"Lane I've been going here for awhile now, I think I'll be okay," Rory reassured her.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll miss you."

"Me too, but I'll come out to visit soon."  
"Promise?"

"I promise."

Lane smiled, "Okay." She hugged her friend one more time and then hopped into her mother's car. As soon as she started to pull away, both friends smiled and waved goodbye until the car vanished around a corner.

Rory sighed as her smile faded from her face and she slowly turned to walk back to her dorm. But before she could get there, a familiar voice called out her name. Rory turned around and noticed Dean standing next to a tree, close to where she had just watched Lane leave. Rory walked up to him, a little confused to see him, but she was happy and a little nervous anyways. "Hi," she said, somewhat timidly.

"Hey," he smiled.

"What are you doing here?"

Dean stuck his hands in his pockets. "Uhm, I just wanted to see what your school is really like in person. And, I guess, I kind of missed seeing you," he answered

Rory really liked Dean. They had been calling each other at least once a week ever since she moved here. With every phone call, they grew closer and seeing him here today, Rory realized that she wanted to be his girlfriend. They had only been on three dates before, but something inside her was telling her to go for it. It was a strange feeling because normally she was never the kind of person to take such huge leaps like the one she was thinking about. However, something just felt right to her and she guessed that some of Abbey's impulsiveness had worn off on her. "I have a little confession to make as well," she started. "I really like you."

"Yeah, me too. I mean, I really like you too," Dean said.

"Sooo, what does that mean? Are we now boyfriend and girlfriend?" Rory said as she played with her sleeve.

"Yeah, I think it does, only if you want to be."

"I wanna be," Rory said as her cheeks flushed red.

"Me too," Dean smiled, a little embarrassed himself, but then grabbed her hand to hold.

She smiled up at him and he did the same. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds until Dean slowly bent down to kiss her softly.

Rory was shocked at first, but then relaxed. But it ended as quickly as it started, so Rory wrapped her arms around Dean for a hug.

"Uhm, I actually have to get back home soon, cause I have school and everything tomorrow," said Dean.

Rory pulled back, "Oh, right."

"But I'll call you tomorrow."

Rory smiled, "Okay."

Dean smiled also, "Okay." He waved bye and then hopped into his car. Rory waved goodbye as well, but when he finally drove away, she wasn't as sad as she was earlier. For Rory, it was an amazing weekend.


End file.
